Ghosted - Luke | Julie and the Phantoms

Chapter Four

I stayed on the roof as it started to get dark outside. The streetlights soon came on as I continued to cry into my knees which were pulled up to my chin. "Are you okay?" A voice asked me. I turned my head to see Luke sitting beside me and I wiped away the tears on my cheek.

"I'm fine." I lied before pausing briefly. "You guys get to stay, I guess that's a good thing." I then told him.

"Can I ask you something?" I nodded my head. "Why don't you want Julie to know that you're here, watching over her?"

"Because I don't want to give her hope." I admitted. "If she can see you for whatever reason, she might think that others will be visible to her."

"Meaning you and your mom." Luke sighed.

"Exactly." I whispered as more tears started to fill my eyes. "I just feel like this is all my fault." I cried, my voice breaking. "If I wasn't so caught up in what I was feeling, maybe Julie would be much happier right now."

"I hope it's not to much for me to ask but... what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I frowned.

Luke nodded and we sat in silence for several moments as we watched the sun set. "What about you?" I asked. "Were you all in some kind of accident?"

"We actually ate some bad hotdogs." The boy admitted as he scratched the back of his head, his face turning red. I couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, it's not funny. We died."

"Right. I'm sorry." I told the boy, trying to hold in my laughter. I still ended up smiling as I bit my lip and a huge smile grew on Luke's face as he watched me.

"You know you should smile more." He told me. "You're very pretty when you smile." My smile then curved back into a frown.

"Could you leave, please?" I asked him. "I really just wanna be alone."

"Yeah, sure." The boy said. "I guess we'll see you around." He finished before he poofed out.

It became morning very quickly. I hadn't moved from the roof all night and when I saw Julie heading towards the garage below me, I poofed to the floor and followed her into mom's studio. "Guys?" She questioned, there was no answer. I then watched as my sister approached the piano at the other end of the room before sitting down on the seat.

"Come on, Julie." I said. "Play." The girl then looked at the piece of paper on top of the piano before she began to hit the keys, gently. I couldn't help but smile as I leaned against the piano and as Julie began to sing the song our mom wrote, I joined in even though she couldn't hear me.

When the girl finished playing and we stopped singing, I wiped the tears from my cheeks only to notice the boys standing behind my sister frowning. Alex took a step forward before Luke stopped him and they then poofed outside without Julie ever knowing they were there. I took a deep breath and I walked out of the studio. "You can't handle when other people cry." Alex told Luke. "I should know. I cried in a room for 25 years and I didn't get a hug from either of you."

"Alright. Bring it in." Reggie told him as he stepped closer to the blonde.

"Don't touch me!"

"This is why no one hugs you."

"I think the first thing we need to do, once we get the courage to go in there, is ask Julie why she lied about playing the piano." Luke told the boys.

"Yeah, you know, maybe tell her how amazing she is." Alex added.

"Yeah. She's legit. I got ghost bumps." Reggie said as Flynn approached the studio, also crying.

Flynn walked past me and that's when the boys noticed that I was standing there. "Oh my gosh. Was she crying too?" Alex asked.

"Yes!" Luke exclaimed. "And the only thing scarier than one girl crying is two girls crying."

"He's right."

"We shouldn't go in there."

"But we can listen." Reggie said.

"No, you shouldn't listen." I told them, making them frown. "That conversation is private."

"We're listening." Luke told me before the boys leaned up against the garage door.

I stayed back from the door as I watched the boys listen in on the girls and I couldn't help myself. I approached the studio and I listened as Julie spoke to her friend. "I was so afraid to play it." Julie admitted. "Anything involving music just reminds me of her. And I thought, that's why I should do it. To keep her memory alive. I just wish Sophie was here to sing it with me."

"Then do it for their memory." Flynn said before pulling Julie into a hug. "We need to tell Mrs Harrison that you can play again so my life won't be sad picture I just painted you. My girl's back. Double Trouble is alive again." The girl smiled.

"Not our band name." Julie told her as they headed towards the door.

"I gave you a t-shirt in the 7th grade that says otherwise." Flynn finished before Julie walked straight through me.

I laughed as the boy then pretended to act like they weren't listening as Flynn walked past them followed by Julie. "Oh, hey." Julie smiled at them before noticing the look Flynn flashed her. "Let's hustle." She exclaimed as she ran over to her friend, waving goodbye to the boys.